Obnoxious Fate
by Flintoff Cypress
Summary: (Pokemon Special / Adventures) If you can't enjoy the world, then what was the point in helping to save it? Wally struggles with the limitations placed on him by his medical condition as the solutions to his problems put him at odds with his friends in the past and present.
1. Chapter 1: Missed Oppertunity

**The Obnoxious Fate**

**Author: Flintoff Cypress**

**Based off a story written by Hidenori Kusaka and illustrated by Satoshi Yamamoto.**

**Chapter 1: Missed Opportunities**

"Good morning, Petalburg City! It's a gorgeous, crisp morning..."

With a click, the alarm clock went silent. A green-haired young man got out of bed and looked out of the only window of his room. Petalburg City, while indeed gorgeous to people visiting, provided little visual simulation to a native who has spent their whole life within. Before he could focus on anything, his sleepy haze interrupted by knocking on his door. "Wally, are you awake?" inquired a woman's voice.

"Yes, Mom. I'll be right out" he replied as he rubbed his eyes. Today was his twelfth birthday, and any typical kid would be out of bed and ready to enjoy their big day. A coughing fit reminded him that he wasn't going to have a happy birthday. Down there, he wasn't going to have a party, friends, candles, and a cake. Presents? Ha. Being sick is synonymous with being expensive. His father worked full-time as a network engineer at the Devon corporation. His mother worked part-time and even then she had a hard time managing that around his illness. For a normal family that might be enough, but it was a challenge to keep the lights on and still have money to pay the medical bills. The chances of having any presents down there were slim to none.

After he got dressed for his day, he grabbed a dark green piece of equipment and slipped it on over his shirt. With a click, a mask popped out and covered his mouth and nose ready to deliver him medicine and oxygen. Satisfied by the successful activation of the mask, he pressed a button and the mask retracted into the device. Finally, he walked over to his dresser and looked at his Pokéballs. "Good morning, everyone!" he said as cheerfully as he could. He picked them up and attached them to his belt. He had wrist protectors that they could have attached to, but he never wore them as he felt that he had enough "machinery" attached to him.

Ready for the day, he opened the bedroom door and walked downstairs. "Happy Birthday!" his parents said in unison. "Thank you." Wally said while giving a slight smile. "Are you ready for your party?" his mom said while still acting semi-cheerful. Wally nodded and looked at the floor. The "party" was really an appointment for a checkup. What a wonderful way to spend his birthday.

After a light (and flavorless) breakfast, he got into the car with his mother. As the key turned, the radio kicked on. "...and it will remain partly cloudy for the rest of the day. Eastern Hoenn will experience rain showers in the early afternoon to evening hours. This developing storm front will pick up moisture as it crosses the ocean, and will give heavy downpours for the Sevii islands. It will turn over to snow as it crosses into the Sinnoh region. For those travelling outside of the country, you can expect to see sunny skies when flying into Mistralton City..."

Wally zoned out and ignored the radio as the car slowly backed out and on the road. They lived next door to one of the biggest buildings in Petalberg City: the Petalberg Gym. Two young trainers were entering the building as they drove by. Wally turned and looked the other way, out of concern that he might be recognized by someone who he didn't particularly want to talk to.

"...and in further news, after two months of operation the Battle Frontier has proven it's predicted success. When asked if there were any plans to expand to other regions, owner Scott refused to comment. Insiders have said that administrators from Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh have approached Scott with potential interest in bringing the Battle Frontier to their regions..." the radio broadcaster started to drone on as Wally leaned over and placed his head on the glass on the car window.

Barely two months ago, he was to have the best weekend of his life (so far). His cousin, Wanda, married her fiancé on a boat that would be docking at the Battle Frontier in a few days before the grand opening. It would have been like taking a "double vacation".

Sadly, a week before the boat was to leave port from Slateport City, Wally had his worst attack in a while and had to stay in bed for several weeks and he had to miss his cousin's wedding. As Wanda was his mother's niece, his father used up his vacation time to watch over him in Petalberg while his mother enjoyed the "vacation". "It was a beautiful ceremony." his mother shared when she arrived home, "That boy that you met last year was there. Wasn't his name Ruby or something?"

Remembering that, a part of him was glad that he fell ill. Almost a year ago, Ruby had brought the young man home when he collapsed and then helped him catch his first Pokémon. That was the only time that he felt like he had a true human friend. He was so grateful and overwhelmed with emotion that he gave Ruby his PokeNav. That thing took him ages to save up to buy, but he had no regrets (at least for the time being). After an earthquake separated the two, he spent his time trying to find him. First of all, he had Ruby's Ralts (named Ruru) who was missing her trainer and he wanted his new friend back.

During his time at Sky Pillar, Ruru evolved into a Kirlia. While Wally's trainer, Ruby's father (and Petalberg Gym leader) Norman, said that it was okay for Ruru to evolve, he always wondered if Ruby (who, as a Pokémon coördinator, always took appearance as the highest priority) was furious. Ruby had been to Wally's house, and it was obviously right next door to his father's Gym, so why not a simple "Thank you for returning my beloved Pokémon!".

Shaking his head, Wally took his head off of the glass as the car settled into a parking space. After a little battle removing the seat belt from his respirator, he walked up to the doors and entered the hospital.

A click of a button flipped the respirator mask to his face. Activating the mask probably wasn't necessary, but he really didn't want to breathe in what some of his fellow waiting room occupants were likely going to cough out.

Thankfully, the receptionist seen them coming and greeted them by saying "Hello, Wally! Dr. Tomois is ready to see you now!" Being well-known by the receptionists and nurses made things a little better, but it's still kind of sad when you're their "number one customer".

Dr. Tomois, a pulmonologist that specialized in pediatrics, sat on a stool as Wally walked in by himself. "Surprise!" the doctor said half-jokingly as the green-haired boy habitually sat on the examination table.

"So, today's the big one-two?" Dr. Tomois asked as he opened up a large file folder. Wally nodded. Being depressed by the cold and sterile environment of the hospital, Wally never liked to speak unless necessary. "I'll just gather some data and I'll let you get right to it." the doctor said as he flipped open a small panel on Wally's respirator. As uncomfortable as that respirator was, having a checkup's worth of data instantly available was a huge plus.

The doctor plugged in one end of the cable into the port on the respirator and the other end into his computer. The computer automatically recognized the device and launched a program to provide real-time data. "Everything seems work adequately" Dr. Tomois said. In all honesty, Wally's condition wasn't showing much improvement since the last visit. Dr. Tomois didn't want to give the boy false hope, but he also didn't want to give him less-than-positive news (especially on his birthday).

Without giving any more detail, Dr. Tomois closed the laptop computer, turned to Wally and smiled. "Well, you're all set for the day! Enjoy the rest of the day, birthday boy!" the pulmonologist said cheerfully as Wally got up. Before walking out, Wally turned to the doctor and with a slight smile said "Thank you."

As soon as the door jamb clicked, Dr. Tomois reopened the laptop and took another glance at the data at the screen. He sighed as he laid back in his chair and put a hand on his forehead. Wally, being sick from a really young age, was probably the Medical Center's most frequent patient. Dr. Tomois was just in medical school the first time Wally got sick. Throughout his medical school, internship, and residency experience, Wally was there almost once a week. Then, about a year ago, something changed all that.

**Flashback: Summer, Last Year **

"I think the best thing for Wally would be to spend some time in the open air." Dr. Tomois stated to Wally's parents. "What do you mean?" Wally's dad said as his glasses lowered down on his nose. "Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against this city, I'm just saying that people who suffer from this often see better results in more rural environments." the doctor clarified. Realizing that he just suggested that the entire family up and move, Dr. Tomois quickly added to that by saying "Of course, I'm not meaning a permanent move. There are specialty camps set up just for this. In fact, there's a wonderful therapeutic camp that opened up just south of Virbank City."

Wally's mother, typically docile, stood up and exclaimed "Virbank City?! VIRBANK CITY?! You want to ship my son halfway across the world to Unova?! Are you insane?!" Dr. Tomois sweat-dropped as Wally's father patted his wife on the back and tried to get her to calm down. After she took a few seconds and removed "choke the pulmonologist" from her agenda, she sat back and calmly replied "Well, my brother lives in Verdanturf Town. Maybe I can make a few phone calls." The doctor nodded in agreement.

Two weeks later, Dr. Tomois made a special trip to Wally's new home. "Good afternoon! I'm Dr. Tomois, Wally's pediatric pulmonologist." he happily stated to the man who opened the door. The man slowly scratched his head, and after thinking for a few seconds realized what the doctor had said and turned around. "Wanda! Your cousin's doctor is here!" the man said as he motioned for the doctor to come in.

"It's so nice to meet you! Wally has told me so much about you!" a young woman who looked suspiciously like Wally exclaimed as she shook his hand. "Nice to meet you..." Dr. Tomois replied as he noticed the man glaring at him and sweat-dropped. The muscular man, her fiancé Riley, pointed his thumb down the hallway and said "He's in the guest room. Third door to the right."

Wanting to get away from the tension, Dr. Tomois wasted no time in walking to the room. "Hello?" he said as he peeked into the ajar door. Wally was lying on the bed, tossing an empty Pokeball up and catching it. On seeing the doctor, he quickly sat up and said "Hi." causing the doctor to recoil as he never usually got any response out of the sickly boy without asking him a question.

Since Dr. Tomois was probably the third most-important person in Wally's life (behind his parents), Wally was a little more extroverted in conversation as Dr. Tomois studied logs that Wally's Aunt and Uncle kept on his health over the past week. "So, you have a Pokémon?" Dr. Tomois asked, curious as he knew where Wally's parents stood on that particular issue.

Wally nodded and tossed out two Pokeballs. In a flash of light, a Kecleon and a Ralts appeared next to him. "Two Pokémon? You've been busy!" the doctor said as he looked at the two monsters before him. "Well, I didn't exactly catch Ruru..." Wally said before he explained about how he met Ruby and how they became separated in that earthquake.

When he finished his story, Dr. Tomois got up and looked out the window as he thought for a bit. Wanda and Riley were taking a walk outside, and just by luck the muscular man looked towards the window and glared at the doctor. Sweat-dropping again, Dr. Tomois turned back around as he got an idea. "Well, if you want to find Ruby, I think I can help you. I came to visit you because I have something you'll be interested in." he said as he handed Wally a pamphlet. "A... wearable respirator?" Wally asked as he thumbed through the booklet. "Yes, but you'll have to go to a facility in Mauville City. It'll take about a week for them to get your biometric data and tune the respirator to your size. After that, you'll no longer be tied to a hospital bed or even the room. I do ask that you come in at least twice a month for checkups and to have the respirator adjusted as you grow up." the doctor said as Wally looked out the window while trying to figure out what to do. Dr. Tomois glanced up to see Wanda and Riley walking by again. Wanda smiled and waved at Wally while Riley gave the doctor the same cold look as before.

After thinking about it for a bit, Wally returned the two Pokémon to their Pokeballs and asked "How soon can I go?".

**Present Day.**

After his doctor appointment, Wally went back home and up to his room. It was bland, but he could at least be somewhere without that suffocating respirator. As he turned on the television, some questions started to roll around in his head. What was the point? Why did he do anything? Sure, he was a sickly boy who helped save Hoenn (and the world) by releasing Rayquaza, but where did it get him? Outside of his Pokémon (while they were his friends, he really couldn't have anything more than a one-sided conversation with them), he really didn't have any friends. He could be mad and blame his parents for bringing him into this world, but it's not their fault. He's the sick one, and will probably be sick for a long time.

How long was this nightmare going to last? It's time to wake up...

**To Be Continued...**

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**Author's Note:** This is a story that I've had kicking around on my hard drive for several years. A recent thread on a certain Pokémon forum involving a heated debate over Wally's status as a main character inspired me to dig this out of the archives and post each chapter as I finish and polish it.

This is my first piece of fanfiction in a LONG time, and please leave a review with what you think. I appreciate any constructive criticism, as I can't get better if I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2: Calling It Quits

**Obnoxious Fate Chapter 2: Calling It Quits**

The next day after Wally's appointment, Dr. Tomois had reached the mid-point of his day. His daily routine consisted of checkups in the morning, a lunch hour, a few hours of research and paperwork, and a few checkups to finish out the day. Every day, at lunch, he would check his email. Usually, he would get his usual mix of complaining from his superiors and advertising, but today he noticed that he got an unusual email:

Dr. Tomois,

After my next appointment, can I talk to you about some concerns about my treatment?

Thanks,  
Wally

This puzzled the doctor, as most people would ask questions during their checkup and consultation and not afterwards. Oh well, a medical consultation is a consultation. He checked his schedule and replied back that he had a half-hour free.

Two weeks later, his appointment went just like before. Wally quietly walked in, Dr. Tomois analyzed the data, and again had nothing (good) to report. "Well, that's it for the appointment. What did you want to talk to me?" Dr. Tomois asked as he sat down on his stool.

"Well... um, I... um... my problems are going to stay like this... forever, right?"

"Well, Wally, I wouldn't say that..."

"But you're not denying it?"

"...I'm not going to. Okay. Let me be honest with you. While you're not getting any worse, you're not showing any real progress..."

"...So you're saying that I've gone as far as I can? There's no getting better?"

"I'm not saying that, but I'm not wanting to give you false hope..."

Wally quickly shut up and looked down. Dr. Tomois, unfortunately, had experience in giving people bad news and he knew that the waterworks were coming. It was only a matter of time.

"I know. I suspected it..." Wally said without breaking his gaze on the floor tiles. Dr. Tomois, specializing in puminology and obviously not psychology, made the mistake of continuing by saying "Well, you have had attacks recently and some of them were quite severe. Remember that big one a few months ago?"

Uh oh. Dr. Tomois mentally uttered a certain word in his head as his patients' green eyes glared at him as tears emerged from the corners.

"What's the point?" the green-haired boy said as he tried not to break down.

"What's the point in what?"

"Everything? Why am I wearing this if it's not doing anything?!" Wally said as he knocked on his respirator.

"Well, it allows you to go-"

"Don't give me that! It didn't allow me to do anything! I didn't get to go to the Ba-" Wally loudly said as he looked away. The respirator mistakenly labelled his now-obvious crying as an attack and clicked the mask into action. With a smack of the button, the mask slid back down. After calming down to the point where he could talk without sobbing, Wally turned back around with a look of sadness and defeat.

"What I'm trying to say is that I want this to end." Wally started to explain. "What does it matter if I'm not getting any better? Why bother? I'm just going to die anyways! If I'm so 'crippled' and 'limited' then why do I want to keep going if the outcome is the same?!"

Hearing that, it was Dr. Tomois' turn to look away. He never liked using the D-word. Never. He knew that Wally had a point, but he had a feeling that if he held on a little longer that things would get better. He chose his words carefully before he turned back to Wally and said "You know as well as I do that advances happen all the time. Your respirator is proof of that!"

"I've been sick for like, my entire life! Twelve years! If they don't have a cure, then why should I believe that they're going to make one?" Wally retorted.

"And with what we have now, you can last another sixty or so years!" Dr. Tomois replied while keeping from yelling at the poor kid.

"Sixty years. And what the hell am I supposed to do in the meantime?!" Wally blurted. Dr. Tomois raised his eyebrows as any swearing (even minor) was just odd coming out of the timid boy's mouth. Without giving him a chance to reply, Wally continued by saying "I'm stuck in my room! Tell me, what's the difference between my room and a coffin?! Both are where I'm apparently stuck for eternity!"

This was getting out of hand. Dr. Tomois turned away again and wiped the sweat (okay, maybe there was a tear in there) from his face. "S-So, you don't want to continue any treatment?" the doctor asked. Wally nodded. "Well, I'm afraid that the decision isn't yours. You would have to have your parents' permission... until you turn eighteen." Dr. Tomois replied.

Wally got up and shrugged in defeat. "Okay, six years. If there's no cure by then I'm done. Fair enough." he said as he went to the door. This took the doctor by surprise as the argument ended surprisingly quickly. Too quickly. "Are you okay?" Dr. Tomois asked, not wanting to flat-out ask whether the boy was contemplating ending his own life. Wally glared at him, opened the door, and left.

Dr. Tomois sighed and rested his forehead on his hand and thought "This really couldn't get any worse." When his cellphone started ringing, he looked down at it and realized that, indeed, it can. With a click, he opened the clam-styled phone and answered with a "Hello?"

"Yeah. Yeah? I know I'm thirty days past due, I'll try to pay it up when I can. I know. I know. I... know." He replied to the debt collector on the other side of the line. His meek promise to make good on his debts fell on deaf ears as he reached into a pocket on his lab coat and pulled out a Pokeball to release an Elekid on the examination table. Elekid started charging a ThunderShock as Dr. Tomois shouted "What? What? I can't hear you! You're breaking up!" before the phone dropped the call thanks to the interference. "Thank you!" the doctor said as he put the Electric Pokémon back into the ball.

Out in the lobby, Wally looked out of the front door to see if his mother was there to pick him up. Since he obviously didn't want to worry her by bringing up the discontinuing of his treatment, he told her to drop him off and come back in two hours. He looked down at his watch to see that he had another forty-five minutes to go. With a sigh, he walked back into that particular lobby and decided to begin his trek to the only vending machines in the place: in a lobby on the other side of the hospital.

After a brief walk, he arrived and put his money into the machine to get a Lemonade. With a whir, the machine pushed the lemony drink forward... only for it to get stuck. With a groan, Wally slumped his head against the glass of the machine. With a sigh, he got a Pokeball from his belt. "Cacturne! Give me a hand with this!" he said as the Scarecrow Pokémon appeared next to him. Letting out Pokémon that weren't used for medical help is against the rules at the medical center, but he needed that Lemonade NOW. "Grab the machine and shake it!" Wally commanded and while Cacturne became startled by his trainer's snappy attitude, he put his arms around the machine. A few "gentle" shakes caused the bottle to fall. After opening the bottle and letting the Cacturne take a drink, Wally said "Thanks!" and put the walking cactus back into its Pokeball.

"Don't ya hate it when that happens?" a voice said from behind him.

Wally turned around to see a kid sitting in a chair with his foot propped up on another chair. This was normal for a hospital as this wasn't an emergency. What wasn't as normal was that the kid had weird, crescent-shaped hair and a green jewel on his forehead.

**To Be Continued...**

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**Author's Note: **Thanks for the reviews! To answer some of the questions and concerns: Yes, Ruby (and Sapphire) play a huge role in the upcoming chapters. We will see a few other Dexholders (but not all of them) tossed into the fray as the story unfolds. While we saw some of Dr. Tomois' problems, the next chapter will actually follow him outside of the Medical Center and we will start to see some of his ulterior motivation.


	3. Chapter 3: Rolling in Green

**Obnoxious Fate Chapter 3: Rolling in Green**

"Hair... err... Hello." was all that Wally could say as he looked at the bizarre hairdo that the other boy was sporting. Another boy who looked a bit older than Wally sat in a chair nearby and chuckled at the faux pas. Normally Wally would be a bit embarrassed, but today he couldn't care less.

"So, what are ya in for?" the crescent-haired boy asked. "Just a check-up." Wally replied as he got ready to walk back to his regular lobby. The older boy poked his jewel-headed friend with a billiard cue and said "Trying to find someone in a more embarrassing situation than you, Emerald?". As Emerald growled at the older boy, Wally could only wonder why someone would carry a piece of bar equipment around with them.

"By the way, I'm Gold from New Bark Town." the cue-wielding boy said as he pointed a thumb to himself. "Want to see how real men get a drink from jacked-up machines?" Gold offered as he got out a Pokeball. Before either Wally or Emerald could answer, Gold released an Aipom from the ball who wasted no time going over to the machine and snaking his tail up into it.

As some people murmured about the fact that there was an Aipom appearing to stick its butt into a machine that dispenses food and drinks, a girl with pig-tails came up and gave Gold a kick to his side. "OW! What is your problem, Serious Gal?!" he said as he fell off the chair holding his gut. The girl hastily walked over to the vending machine and plucked the Aipom out, walked over to Gold, and then tossed the Long Tail Pokémon on Gold resetting his progress in getting up.

"My name's Emerald, Gold already introduced himself, and the girl's name is Crystal." Emerald said as he extended a hand to Wally. Wally, almost in shock over having anyone offer friendship to him, slowly reached out and shook his hand. "My name's Wally..." he said as realized that something wasn't quite right with Emerald's hand.

"Damn, Aibo, you need to lose some weight!" Gold said as he put the Pokémon back into its ball. A nurse walked by, getting Gold's attention. "Ooh, there's some real 'talent' here. I'll be right back!" he said as he got up and followed the nurse. Crystal, with a sigh, put her hand on her forehead while she contemplated denying ever knowing him for the rest of the day.

"So, are you a trainer?" Emerald asked as Wally nodded. "Did you challenge any of the gyms in Hoenn?" Crystal asked as she wanted to get in on the conversation so she could break any association to the boy who disappeared into the nurse's station. Wally looked at the floor and said "Nope, I'm not a travelling person so I never bothered taking part in that"

"You should challenge the leader here in Petalberg. He's tough, and I also know his..." Emerald started to say as Gold came back into the room holding up a piece of paper. "I got her number!" he said as he beamed with pride. "Did you lay on some of your so-called 'charm'?" Crystal said as she rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Not really, I followed her back to the nurse's station, introduced myself and she said that I had a cute name and gave me her number!" Gold replied as he continued beaming.

Ignoring the unfolding plot, Wally turned the question around and asked "Have you received any badges?" to Emerald. Emerald shook his head and added "No, but I did win against the Fr-" before getting cut off by the medical center's intercom "all-call" chime.

"Good Afternoon! Could Mr. Gold please go to the Pharmacy? Your diarrhea medicine is ready. I repeat, could Mr. Gold please go to the Pharmacy to pick up his diarrhea medicine? Thank you, and have a nice day!"

Emerald forgot his train of thought as he almost fell out of his chair in laughter. "Serves you right." Crystal smugly said as Gold become catatonic with embarrassment. Wally looked at the time on his Pokegear and realized that his mother would be arriving at the other entrance at any minute. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Emerald. I have someone picking me up and I have to go now." Wally said as he got ready to go. "Wait!" Emerald interjected, "Could you give me your Pokegear number, and maybe we could battle sometime?"

Someone wants to be friends with him? Wally could have sworn that he was dreaming. "S-Sure..." he said as he wrote a number down on a piece of paper. "Bye!" Emerald said as Wally left down the hallway connecting the lobbies. "Is he okay?" Emerald asked Crystal as she waved her hand in front of his face. Crystal shrugged as her phone rang. She got up to take the call as Emerald took the piece of paper from Gold's hands and looked at it. "I hate to break it to you, but the number she wrote on here is only six digits." Emerald said as he put the piece of paper back in Gold's hand.

As he shifted his weight in the chair, his hurting foot brought him back to the painful reality that he was at the medical center.

**Flashback: Earlier That Morning**

"Shh... you'll startle it!" Crystal whispered as she was laying on the grass between Emerald and Gold as they looked at the Pokémon in front of them. "Why are we going after this one? You already have one of these!" Gold complained as they stared at a green-colored Marill just ahead of them. "Shut. Up." Crystal said as she kicked the back of Gold's leg. "Ow!" he cried out as the shiny Pokémon turned around and see them. After wiggling its ears, the Marill took off running towards a nearby lake. "Come on, let's go!" Crystal said as she and Gold got up. Emerald tried, but he couldn't get a footing with his stilts and slipped. Unfortunately, his leg and his real foot decided to take two different routes as he crashed back down on the dewy grass.

Crystal lost her chance at catching the Shiny Marill, but she saw Emerald as the little brother she never had and considered his safety more important. She and Gold started to help him get up as he resisted. "I'm totally fine," Emerald started to say as he tried to balance on his stilts, "...or not..." he mumbled as he winced in pain and fell back down. "Your ankle might be sprained. You shouldn't try to walk on it!" Crystal said as Emerald got out a Pokeball in defeat. "Sceptile! I'm going to need a ride!" Emerald said as the Pokeball did absolutely nothing. "Oh no! The switch broke!" Crystal said as she looked at a crack on the front latch of the ball. Emerald got out another ball and called out his Sudowoodo instead.

As they walked back, Emerald looked at the broken ball. "Didn't Red have that happen to him when he fought Giovanni?" Gold asked. Crystal nodded and said "Yeah, but I don't know how we could contact here in Hoenn to fix the ball. We only know Kurt, and it would take a while to ship the ball to Johto to fix it."

"Well, I guess we could call Professor Birch. He might know somebody and Littleroot Town is not that far away." Gold said. Crystal shrugged and they continued their trek back into Petalberg City.

**Present Day**

"I just got off of the phone with the Professor. He's having Sceptile's Pokeball taken by courier to a specialist in Rustburo City. You should have him back in three or four days." Crystal said as she walked back to the injured boy and his still-catatonic friend. Emerald, feeling guilty about leaving his friend stuck in the broken Pokeball, looked at the floor and sighed.

**That Evening**

Dr. Tomois pulled his blue beater car into the parking garage of the apartment complex that he lived in. Despite the stereotype, not every doctor can afford a giant house in the suburbs. While Petalberg City is (for the most part) beautiful, there were a few neighborhoods that could get a bit, well, dicey. Unfortunately, the building he lived in was right in the heart of a less-than-savory part of town.

As he traversed the stairwell of the complex's floors (the only elevator was home to several homeless bandits), his Elekid followed with an armful of groceries. As he opened the door, the Elekid placed the brown paper bags on the floor and plopped down on the couch. "Thank you!" Dr. Tomois said as he kicked off his shoes and sat down next to the yellow Pokémon. He took a cold soda from one of the bags that Elekid left on the ground, brushed away his blond hair, and placed the bottle against his forehead. Having a patient demanding "cure or death" doesn't make for a wonderful day.

He turned on the TV and started watching whatever the news. He started to doze off when he heard a loud pounding on the door. He quickly opened his eyes and jumped to his feet causing his Elekid to awaken in the process. "Open the freaking door!" a tough voice shouted on the other side. For the second time in the same day, Dr. Tomois mentally uttered a certain word as he knew who it was.

Whether or not he was going to answer the door become irrelevant as a swift kick provided the bypass to the already-dubious security of the apartment door. "Well, if it isn't the 'good doctor'." the muscular gentleman hissed as he walked into the apartment. "What do you want?" Dr. Tomois said as he nervously backed up against his living room wall. "WHAT DO YOU THINK?! YOU THINK I CAME HERE FOR A HOUSE CALL?!" the thug said as he kicked the bag of groceries across the room. The doctor didn't have the nerve to correct the thug's improper use of the phrase "House Call" and actually froze as his Elekid bravely stood in front of him ready to fight the thug.

"WHERE IS THE MONEY?!" the thug screamed as he grabbed the padded armrest of the doctor's already-ratty sofa and ripped it off. "I... don't have it. It's hard to explain. Insurance companies are behind on their payments due to the economy..." the doctor tried to explain while trying not to pass out in fear. Without a cue, the Elekid started charging a ThunderShock. The thug quickly noticed the Pokémon that was ready to attack and pulled out a Pokeball without breaking his deathly gaze on the doctor's eyes. A Gliscor popped out and quickly used Sand Tomb to knock out the Elekid. Dr. Tomois, being a Pokémon trainer with a few gym badges under his belt from his youth, had a full team stored in box in his PC. Elekid was the only one out of the group that had any interest in medicine, so he became the doctor's companion to and from work.

"You know damn well that you don't borrow money from the group and skip town without paying us back!" the thug said as he ripped a sofa cushion in half. "J-Just give me a little more time!" the doctor pleaded as the thug got closer to him. The thug stopped and let out a little laugh before sending his fist into the doctor's stomach. With a grunt, Dr. Tomois fell to his knees. The thug used his foot to shove the doctor backwards and pinned him against the living room wall by literally putting his weight on the foot pressing into the doctor's chest. The thug's Gliscor moved in and got dangerously close to the doctor's throat with his pincers. "So, you wanna make a deal?" the thug asked as the doctor was again trying not to pass out with fear. The doctor really didn't want to speak, so he just nodded. "Fine. You'll be getting a call within the next week. If you don't answer it, then my Gliscor here will have a new scratching post. Come on, Gliscor. This fool ain't worth killin'" the thug said as he turned his back and kicked away some of the spilled groceries and sofa remains. The Gliscor hissed and spit on the doctor before walking out of with the thug.

The doctor got up and hurried over to his yellow electric Pokémon friend. The Elekid slowly opened his eyes and looked at the doctor. "It's okay. They're gone." Dr. Tomois said as he hugged the Pokémon. The Elekid clung into his trainer as the doctor silently apologized for getting his beloved Pokémon involved in his problems.

The doctor, even from his high school days, was a bit of a risk-taker. He grew up in Veilstone City, where he spent a lot of time in the Game Corner. He had a taste for the games and would make it a point to go far and wide to play every game he could. Over his vacations and breaks in his higher education, he would go all around the country to partake in any game he could find. From Saffron City, to Two Island, and even Goldenrod and Mauville were all mastered by him. His last major trip was to visit Castelia City's Game Corner during its last week of operation.

With Castelia City's Game Corner closing the doors, and the others watering themselves down to remove the "gambling" games, he became desperate. He got to know the people who ran the "sleazy" gaming operations in Mauville and soon he was able to play cards with the "big boys" and even played a couple of dice games with the "Chief" of the group. They weren't a big group, like Team Rocket, but they did quite well for themselves and they seemed to accept him as part of the family.

When times got rough, he really needed to play the games despite not having any money. So, he got a "small" loan only to lose the money against the same people he borrowed it from. It's no surprise that they were looking for him.

The doctor went into the bedroom and lied down on the bed. Hopefully, whatever task this group wanted done would be enough to satisfy them and he would be able to leave the peaceful life he always wanted.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Over sixty views on only two chapters! I'm so amazed that so many people are reading this! Thanks! To answer some of the reviews from Chapter 2:

While Wally's depression does involve the Battle Frontier, he feels cheated because he assumed that the respirator was the solution to his problems. Attending the opening of the first Battle Frontier is a "once in a lifetime" event, and he feels that the respirator (and his treatments) are just wasteful because they're not allowing him to life his life as he sees fit. Deep down, he may feel like a monster who other humans shy away from because of his illness.

Dr. Tomois is a good ol' boy that has made some horrible decisions in his life. While he makes enough to live a decent life, his little "problem" persists and holds him back financially. If only he had spent his money on that Villa in Sinnoh instead.

In the next chapter, Dr. Tomois gets "the call" while Emerald and Wally have their first battle.


	4. Chapter 4: Prototyped

**Obnoxious Fate Chapter 4: Prototyped**

One week after Wally met the strange people at the Medical Center, he lied on his bed tossing a Pokeball up and down. After three days, he had given up all hope for his new friend to call him. The Pokeball he was tossing up and down was empty, as his Cacturne was outside relaxing in the yard. Two more of Wally's Pokémon, a Kecleon and a Roselia, were rolling another Pokeball back and forth to each other on the floor. Wally also had a Flygon, but it was too big to release in the room.

Wally's daydreaming became interrupted by a chime from his Pokegear. He opened it up to see that he had a text message. He opened it up and looked at it.

"Sorry for taking so long to contact you. Meet up at the park by the hospital? ~ Emerald"

Excited, Wally replied back that he would. "Who's up for going to park?" he asked to his two Pokémon playing on the floor. Both Kecleon and Roselia nodded to show their intent to come along. After putting them back in their Pokeballs, Wally looked out the window at the Cacturne sleeping against the fence surrounding the yellow house. After deciding that the cactus needed his "beauty sleep", he took his remaining three Pokémon and left.

At the park, he looked around and saw that the place was empy. "Nice." Wally uttered to himself as he sat down on a bench. The weather was halfway decent, so he figured he would let his Pokémon frolic. He took the three Pokeballs off of his belt and let out his Kecleon, Roselia, and Flygon.

"I've heard of curtains matching the window, but I've never heard of the Pokémon matching the curtain." a voice came from behind Wally. He turned around to see Emerald, who was standing at Wally's sitting eye-level. "...What?" Emerald asked as he walked over and hopped on the bench beside him. "I'm sorry... I didn't know that you are... well," Wally said as he didn't want to offend the very short young man.

"Short. I'm tiny. Thank you." Emerald said as he turned away in a good-faith attempt to hide his annoyance. Wally looked down at the ground and realized what the saying "Open mouth, insert foot" truly meant. "Well, maybe you'll get taller when you grow up...?" Wally then said, attempting to make conversation without blatantly changing the subject. Emerald shrugged and replied "Really? But I'm forty-five years old!"

Wally, really wondering if Emerald was telling the truth and the creepiness if he was, gave him a weird look. Emerald started laughing and replied "I'm just messing with ya!" before noticing that Wally's Pokémon staring him down ready to act if needed. "I'm really eleven... well, around eleven and a half," Emerald started "I know I seemed taller back at the hospital, and that's because I normally wear prosthetics. Crystal didn't want me hurting my ankle, and she forbade me from wearing my platform shoes until she thinks that my foot is able to take it."

Wally hesitated to carefully choose his words, but then decided to ask "Are your hands prosthetic, too?" as he regretted the question in mid-sentence. "Normally, yes. Today, I decided to go completely prosthetic-free. It just doesn't feel right having one set without the other." Emerald replied as he held rolled up his sleeve to show that he was telling the truth. "Anyways, how about we have a battle and you can show off your 'powerhouses' over there?" Emerald said while feeling a little smug.

Wally thought about it, and nodded. He didn't battle his Pokémon formally since his time at the Sky Pillar, so he was ready to lose this one. "How does 2 on 2 sound?" Emerald said as he looked at the three Pokémon that were still staring him down. "Fair enough." Wally said as he weighed the pros and cons of the three Pokémon while silently cursing himself for not dragging his Cacturne along.

The two boys and Wally's three Pokémon walked over to the basketball court on the outskirts of the park. It wasn't perfect, but it was a nice flat surface to have their skirmish on. "Let's get this started! Sudowoodo, go!" Emerald said as he released the Imitation Pokémon from its ball. "Roselia! You're up for this one!" Wally said as the tiny Thorn Pokémon hopped off of his shoulder and on the field. Emerald reached into his pocket for his PokeDex to get information on this little green Pokémon. "AW CRAP!" he uttered aloud as he realized that he left his it with Crystal for the day. "What's wrong?" Wally asked before making the first move. Emerald shook his head and replied "It's nothing."

"Ready?" Emerald asked, ready to take on this "newbie" oblivious to the details. "Roselia! Use Attract!" Wally said after a quick nod. Roselia did a little dance and the Sudowoodo stopped in her tracks. "Sudowoodo? What are you doing?" Emerald said, thrown for a loop. "I'm just as surprised as you are! I haven't seen a female Sudowoodo before!" Wally said as the little green Pokémon awaited the next command.

"Sudowoodo, just do a Low Kick. For me. Please?" Emerald semi-pleaded, realizing that it would be just a bit of an embarrassment for someone who won against the Frontier Brains to lose against some "random" trainer. "Finish this one, use Solar Beam!" Wally said as the Sudowoodo was starting to drool over the rosy bundle of pain staring her down. Sure enough, Sudowoodo's weakness to Grass-type moves ended the first half of the battle quickly.

"Humph. I'll give you that one. But I now know what I'm up against! Dusclops! It's your turn!" Emerald said as he released a large, gray, Ghost-type Pokémon to the field. Wally couldn't believe it. This particular species of Pokémon was one of the major hurtles on his bike-ride up the Sky Pillar. After taking a moment to think, Wally quickly developed a plan. "Roselia! Come back! Kecleon, take his spot!" he said as Emerald took note of the interesting situation that the battle had become.

"Use Shadow Punch!" Emerald said as the Kecleon just stood there looking at the gray opponent. To Emerald's surprise, the Color Swap Pokémon took the hit and went flying backwards. Wally didn't wince or look away as the Kecleon changed color and stood back up. Emerald then realized what happened: Kecleon's ability, Color Change, turned the little Pokémon into the Ghost type. Wally, not giving it much thought, simply said "Astonish."

Kecleon, being high-levelled along with now having the same-type attack advantage, made pretty quick work of the Beckon Pokémon. Emerald, admitting default, called the Dusclops into the Pokeball and walked over to Wally who was tending to the Kecleon's slight injuries. "That was a good match!" Wally said as he extended his hand to Emerald. Emerald smiled and shook it.

"I do admit, I wasn't at the top of my game since I don't have my full team with me." Emerald said as they sat down on the edge of the basketball court. "Me neither. I wish I would have brought my Cacturne to this battle." Wally replied as Emerald remembered the cactus Pokémon from a week ago. "I have a Sceptile, but the switch on the ball cracked during my fall and I had to have the ball shipped away for repair..." Emerald started to say while feeling a little sad that his Pokémon was still not back to him. "Too bad. I wish I could have battled against your best Pokémon. I had... well, you could say 'borrowed' a Grovyle a long while ago, and he literally saved my life a few times." Wally said as they looked at the street in front of the Medical Center. "What happened to him?" Emerald asked as the specialists started leaving the building and heading to the nearby parking garage. "Well, some things happened, and we became seperated." Wally sadly re. "Well, maybe you'll meet up with him again someday. There aren't a lot of Grovyles in the world, ya know!" Emerald said as he tried to get Wally's mind off of his lost Pokémon.

About that time, a certain blonde-haired doctor left the building. He saw the two boys and waved at Wally, who was too distracted by their conversation to wave back. After walking into the parking garage, he got to his car and started fumbling for his keys. He normally kept them on his belt, but it was a bit crowded with them sharing the real estate with four Pokeballs. Right as he found his keys, he felt a large hand grab him across the mouth. "Hello, again." growled the thug from last week as his Gliscor threatened him with his pincers. The thug led the man over to a running van, opened the side door and shoved the doctor inside.

"I...I thought you was going to call." Dr. Tomois said as the Gliscor was clearly having fun clicking his pincers dangerously close to the doctor's ears. "This is the call. Ring. Ring." the thug said, trying a dramatic voice and failing miserably. "I got a little job for you," the thug started to say, "You know of the Professor here in Hoenn, right?" The doctor could simply nod. "Well, his superior, Professor Oak of the Kanto region is making a stop to spend a few days in Littleroot Town on his way to Twinleaf Town to deliver some new technology to the Professor there." the thug continued to explain. "The... uh... PokeDex, right?" Dr. Tomois remembered from Wally's stories. "Something like that. All I know is that there's a buyer out there that will pay top dollar for that technology. You make that happen, and we'll be out of your life forever." the thug said as he finished. "So, I'm supposed to retrieve a prototype, or blueprints, software, or what?" the doctor said. The thug shrugged and said "I was only told that the buyer wants the _technology._Make it happen, or else" as he opened the door to the van. It was at this time, the Gliscor snipped a piece of hair from the doctor's head and snickered as he held it. "That'll be something to send to your family if you don't _make it._" the thug said as they shoved Dr. Tomois to the pavement and sped off.

**Littleroot Town**

"Okay, are the guest rooms cleaned up and ready to go?" a bearded man in a lab coat asked to the person before him. "Everything is nice, tidy, and _BEAUTIFUL_, Professor!" said a boy dressed in red and black with an odd white hat. The girl beside him, dressed in blue, could only facepalm at the flamboyant lad's act of over-expression.

Before any arguments could be started, the doorbell rang. "Go get it, Jeeves." the girl said to the boy. "Sapphire! Be nice!" the Professor said as he went to the door. Before him stood Crystal and Gold. "Well, hello! It's a surprise to see you ahead of your boss, Crystal!" the Professor said as he let them in. "Thank you! I hope that it's okay that we're here early, sir." Crystal said as they walked to the living room. "It's perfectly fine. Ruby just finished preparing the guest rooms!" the Professor replied as Gold started laughing at the frilly apron that Ruby was wearing. "Oh, look. Prissy Boy's is starting to become a responsible woman!" Gold said between fits of laughter. Crystal's jaw lowered at Gold's sudden combination of an insult and misogynistic behavior. "Oh, that's just nice. The guest room I've painstakingly prepared is going to become home to soda cans and pizza boxes." Ruby said between growls at the older boy. Crystal gave Gold a little nudge with her elbow and cheerfully added "Don't forget that awesome 'party item' that the hot nurse back in the Petelburg hospital suggested."

"Speaking of which, I just got a call from my repairman in Rustburo and it looks like Emerald's Sceptile will be back during the late afternoon." the Professor said as Ruby and Sapphire stared at the again-comatose Gold. "That's wonderful! I'll tell Emerald the news as soon as he arrives!" Crystal replied. "He's at the park with a new friend that he met at the hospital while he was having his ankle checked out." she continued to say. Ruby then excited knocked Sapphire over and blurted "That's so wonderful! I knew he would find some friends eventually!"

"We're his friends, moron!" Sapphire said quickly got up and kicked the boy's feet out from underneath him. "Is it that green-haired kid?" Gold asked as Ruby got back up with fire in his already-red eyes. "Yeah, I believe his name is Wally." Crystal said. "Oh. Crap." Ruby said aloud, remembering the boy that he became friends with and then paid absolutely no attention to after getting his Kirlia back.

**To Be Continued...**


	5. Chapter 5: Unhappy Reunion

**Obnoxious Fate Chapter 5: Unhappy Reunion**

**Author Pre-Note:** This story follows the names established in the Viz translation. Blue is the boy, Green is the girl.

"Stealing. From a professor! Just when I think I couldn't fall any lower, this has to happen!" the normally docile Dr. Tomois said as he paced around his apartment. His Elekid could only sit on the couch and watch him. "Maybe, just maybe I could run away. Somewhere really far away, like Unova. I could become a peddler on the beaches of Undella Town!" the doctor said as he continued to freak out. His usually kept hair was quite disheveled, and any stranger could tell that the poor man was close to having a meltdown. "Ugh! Why, why, WHY?!" he yelled as he kicked his already-beaten couch in frustration. The Elekid decided to do something by shocking his trainer with a ThunderShock. The doctor froze for a few seconds, shook off the jolt, and said "Thank you, I needed that."

"I just... don't know what to do. Honestly, I'm scared." the doctor said as he sat down on the couch next to his Pokémon. The Elekid, not being able to speak, wrapped his arms around his trainer to show that he wasn't going to abandon him. "I'm glad I have you... all of you." Dr. Tomois said as he hugged the electric Pokémon and looked at the other five Pokeballs sitting on his coffee table. "Maybe... I could just get my mind off of things. But what could I do?" the doctor wondered aloud. The Elekid motioned for him to wait a second, got off of the couch, ran to the doctor's writing desk and returned with his laptop. The doctor, realizing that the Elekid was suggesting that he work through his fear and uncertainty, grabbed the laptop and thanked his partner as he opened it up.

**Later That Night**

"Oh, that's just hilarious!" Professor Birch said as his daughter was rolling in laughter. "And despite Emerald's ankle, I think Gold felt the most pain that day." Crystal said as Gold was contemplating friend-abuse by billiard cue. Ruby sat on the couch next to Sapphire being quiet out of guilt. "Why aren't ya laughing?" Sapphire said as she elbowed her friend in the side. Ruby, not wanting to admit that he had zoned out and ignored the story, just simply shrugged. "I'm going to head home. It was nice seeing you two again." Ruby said to the group as he got up to leave. "Wow, what's his problem? It's not like he felt humiliated in front of a group of people!" Gold said as he poked Crystal in the side with the cue. "Poke me again, I'm going to ram that stick right down your.." Crystal started to say with fire in her eyes as the doorbell chimed.

"Hello!" the younger Professor Birch said to the older Professor Oak as he invited him in. "Wow, I like what you've done with the place!" Professor Oak said as he took his shoes off and looked around. "Where's your luggage? I'll send Sapphire out to get it!" Professor Birch asked. Professor Oak nudged his thumb behind him as two older teenage boys were carrying in several bags. "Where do you want this, Gramps?" the taller boy asked. "Over in the corner will be fine, Blue." Professor Oak said. As Blue put the bags down, the other boy put his bags down right behind him. As Blue turned around, he stumbled and almost tripped. "Damn it, Red!" he exclaimed at the boy with a red cap could only snicker. "Where's Pika?" Crystal asked as the two boys joined the group. "I left him with Yellow back in Pallet Town. After the Battle Frontier, he's seemed a little tired." Red replied.

"Well, I guess we'll be taking off to the lab so we can discuss the Hoenn section of the new PokeDex." Professor Birch said as Sapphire walked up to him. "Dad, can I..." she started to ask, but the Professor cut her off by saying "...talk to him? Sure. Don't be out too late, okay?"

As she left out the door, Professor Birch turned to his guests and said "Well, in that case, feel free to make yourselves at home." before leaving with the older Professor. "So, anything new?" Blue asked as he pulled up a chair. Crystal nodded and managed to get out "Well, Gold did meet this cute girl at Petalburg's..." before Gold shouted "CRYSTAL!"

**Outside Ruby's House**

Ruby sat down on the grass next to a tree. His father loved to let his Slaking's lounge out here, so he was a little weary of sitting down in their little "gifts". "Why do I always mess things up, Ruru?" he asked as he let the Emotion Pokémon from her ball.

"He was always _right there_. Two minutes away from Dad's gym! I could have stopped by and said 'Hey, thank you for returning my Pokémon to me!' or asked him how he was feeling. I always wanted to meet up with him again." he said as he gently scratched Ruru on the top of her head. "I actually froze a bus because I thought I saw him in a crowd of people and wanted to see him before he left!" Ruby said as he softly laughed remembered how embarrassing that incident was. Ruby started primping up the Kirlia as he continued his story by saying "When we went to the Battle Frontier, I was hoping to see him at Wanda's wedding. He wasn't there, and nobody really talked about him. I do admit that hearing Riley go off about Wally's doctor being a 'a piece of man-candy that's trying to steal his bride'. Heh. But yeah, it's been over a year since we stopped Groudon and Kyogre from destroying the world. It's probably too late to make things right."

"I don't think so." said a voice from behind Ruby. "Oh, I should have known that you would troll the area at night, 'Wild Girl'" he replied at Sapphire sat down next to him. "If I did that to you, would you hate me?" Ruby asked, almost thrilled that he was having a mature conversation with her. "Well, yeah. But you say that you liked him and then denied any memory of it, did you?" Sapphire asked as she gave him a sideways glance. "Of course not!" Ruby replied as he remembered that he _did_ hug him once. "What I'm saying is, just go talk to him. The worst thing he could do is slam the door in your face..." Sapphire said, stopping herself before she could add "...or punch you in the head." (although, it _could_ help jog his memory about Mirage Island).

Ruby pulled out his PokeNav and looked at it. Sapphire had seen it before, but why did he have it out now? "Wally gave me this, because I helped him catch his first Pokémon. Every time I use this, I always think 'Maybe I should catch up with him.' but then I always forget. Even on days when I don't take my PokeDex, I always take this with me." Ruby said as he checked Ruru's stats on it. Ruby stood up and put Ruru back in her ball before saying "You know, I'm going to talk to him tomorrow!"

Sapphire smiled as she stood up. The smile quickly left as she stepped in a "Slaking gift".

**Dr. Tomois' Apartment**

"Let's see... if I combine a bit of this medicine with the air distribution system. Then... that could create a mist that could stabilize the respiratory system should there be an attack and do it with more efficiency than any known medicinal delivery system to date!" Dr. Tomois said as he rapidly typed into his laptop.

[btomois(a)petalburgmed: ~]$ makepkg -s

He sat back and watched the "technical gibberish" scroll across the screen. He didn't understand much about technology, but he had studied enough to program code that could be installed to respirator suits. If this worked, he would have that discovery and win his argument with Wally.

== Finished making: medicine-respirator 2.0.2-1 (Sun Sept 19 22:51:01)

He leapt up with excitement and cheered as Elekid did a little dance in joy. A loud knock on the door brought him back down to reality. Not wanting the door kicked in again, he hastily opened the door to see a familiar Gliscor staring up at him. The Gliscor reached up to him with an envelope and with a snicker he leaped up and out the nearby open window. Dr. Tomois sat down on the couch with a sigh and opened the letter.

"The Oak tree has left its leaves in the forest full of Birch trees. The raking will start tomorrow."

The doctor knew exactly what this meant. All he had to do was this one little job, and then he would be free to change lives for the better.

**Professor Birch's House, The Next Evening**

"You're going on a camping trip?" Crystal asked Emerald, who was packing up for the great outdoors. "Yeah, Wally and I are setting up camp in Petalburg Woods. It took a lot of work to convince his parents, but they agreed to let him go as long as he doesn't 'wheeze'. So much as a cough and he has to come back home. That respirator suit 'phones home', so they'll know if he's having any sort of trouble." Emerald explained. "Geez, doesn't that make you glad that you don't have to worry about troublesome parents?" Gold said, just realizing that he was making fun of the boy's dead parents. Without saying anything else, Gold sulked out of the room for what seemed like the first time for him.

"If he has to leave, will you be fine on your own?" Crystal asked the younger boy. Emerald nodded. "Just to be safe, I have this for you." she said as she handed him a Pokeball with a familiar green Pokémon in it. His face lit up as he happily said "Sceptile! You're back!". Emerald smiled as he ran off, ready to challenge Wally to a rematch. "Be careful! Don't fall down again! You just got those platform shoes back!" Crystal said as Ruby came into the house.

"Did you talk to him?" Sapphire asked from her couch perch. Ruby shook his head. "Why not?" Sapphire as she started her line of angry interrogation. "I just, well, couldn't bring myself to do that to him. I'm sure he's forgotten about me, and I would just be bringing up some bad memories for him!" Ruby said with a shrug. "Maybe he's just as forgetful as you, Ruby." Crystal said as she winked at Sapphire. Ruby, in disbelief that Sapphire had dragged others into the "Mirage Island debate", glared at Sapphire. "Gotta go, bye!" Sapphire said as she leapt from the couch with the angry boy chasing her.

**Petalburg Woods, One Hour Later**

"This looks...familar..." Wally said as they approached a clearing. "What?" Emerald asked as his Sudowoodo gave Wally's Cacturne a hand in setting up the camp. Wally shook his head and replied "Nothing."

"How about we have a rematch, right here in the twilight?" Emerald said as the Pokémon barely had time to finish the camp. Wally nodded as the Cacturne came over, ready for a battle. Emerald held up a finger and said "One on One. My Sceptile will end this quickly."

Wally nodded and said "Fair enough. I'll use Cacturne for this battle." and Cacturne braced himself for battle. Emerald gave the green-haired boy a smug look as he pulled out his PokeDex to scan the cactus Pokémon. Wally did a double-take at what Emerald just pulled out.

"...as sand. It is nocturnal, so it hunts at night." Emerald said as he read off the PokeDex entry for Cacturne. Emerald smirked, pulled out a Pokeball, and let out his Sceptile before him. While Wally didn't recognize the Pokémon before him, his Cacturne knew that the Sceptile before them was the Treeko and Grovyle that had fought alongside them at the Sky Pillar. As he looked at the surprised looks from both the Sceptile and the Cacturne, Wally came to realize that the Pokémon and PokeDex he used during that time really belonged to someone who he considered his friend. Someone who was one on the same level as _that other person._

For once, Wally was speechless for a reason other than his medical problems.

**To Be Continued...**


	6. Chapter 6: Friends and Enemies

**Obnoxious Fate Chapter 6: Friends and Enemies**

"Wally? Are you okay?" Emerald asked as the green-haired boy stood speechless before him. "Uh..." was all that Wally could get out, because there was no way he was going to fight against the Pokémon that once saved his life. Thinking quickly, he fell to his knees and faked a cough (for him, this wasn't a hard task). The respirator beeped three times and clicked the mask over his face. "Aw man! Seriously?" Emerald said, thinking that Wally was having a genuine attack.

The Cacturne ran over to his trainer and helped him back up. The cactus Pokémon knew Wally well enough to know that he was faking it, and while he didn't approve he knew why he was doing it. Sceptile also approached the two, ready to help. Cacturne gave a gesture with his hand that meant "No, I got this. It's okay."

"Well... bye?" Emerald said as Cacturne and Wally left the woods. "Did all three of you see a ghost or something?" Emerald asked as they sat down by the fire. Sceptile shook his head, wanting to explain everything to him. "Hello! Hope you don't mind party crashers!" a familiar voice called from the opposite direction that Wally took off in. Emerald turned around to see Sapphire literally dragging Ruby along the brush. "This is gross. Just gross." Ruby said as he brushed off pine needles from his _beautiful_ backpack. "Is Wally still here?" Sapphire said as she had a hold of the back of Ruby's shirt collar to keep him from running off. Emerald shook his head and replied "You just missed him. He started feeling sick and had to go home."

"Well, all's well that ends well, then!" Ruby said as he started to turn around. "Get. Back. Here." Sapphire said as she snapped her fingers. Ruby laughed in disbelief that he would be commanded by the likes of her. Less than thirty seconds later, a Blaziken walked back to the site with the boy kicking and screaming. "Thank you, Toro." Sapphire said as the Blaze Pokémon started playing with the now-large campfire. Being understandably nervous, Sceptile got up and moved away from the barbecue chicken.

"Ruby, at the Battle Frontier you used that lighter thing to help Sceptile remember his past. What exactly was that about, because I think Wally and his Pokémon were both really freaked out by him and Sceptile seems to have felt the same way." Emerald sheepishly asked. "Well, I only know what my Dad has told me..." Ruby said, sitting down next to the crescent-haired kid and starting the story of Norman and Wally's experience in releasing Rayquaza from the Sky Pillar.

**Meanwhile, at Professor Birch's Lab in Littleroot Town**

"Well, that just does it for the night." Professor Oak said as they finished up their work for the night. "Where does that leave us at? I'll make a note for when we pick back up on it tomorrow." Professor Birch said as they cleaned up the mess of paperwork. Professor Oak looked at one of the papers and said "I believe we were at Machop, which is number 73 in the Hoenn PokeDex and will be number 40 on the new version."

After what seemed like an eternity, the two Professors finally left the building, but not before putting the prototype device in the safe, setting the alarms, and locking the doors. Just because Teams Aqua and Magma were gone didn't mean that Team Rocket couldn't make a special trip to Hoenn for the new technology. When the clock struck midnight, a certain clanging was heard in the ventilation system.

As Elekid started to navigate the ducts, he looked around for a way to get to where he needed to go. Eventually, he found his opportunity in a closet just off of the hallway. With a quick Brick Break, he took out the vent and popped out into the closet. He looked up at the electrical panel before him. He needed to disable the alarm, but also needed to keep electricity to the sensor that would alert the alarm company on a power failure. Finding the alarm console, he slowly felt the cable going from the doors and motion sensor controller and got a feel for the current within. The electric Pokémon gave himself a charge and ripped the wire while supplying it with current to keep the alarm console fooled.

Dr. Tomois, dressed in black and waiting outside, waited for the right opportunity as he watched the main lab through a window. When the indicator LED on the motion sensors went dead, the doctor knew that he needed to get on it. After removing a Pokeball from his belt, a Smeargle appeared before him. With a nod, the Smeargle used an Arm Thrust to break down a side door. While this door was slightly secluded, it was still visible from the road and that made Dr. Tomois nervous as he scuttled around looking for a safe.

After finding the metal vault, he realized that he needed a way to break in. After taking a moment to think, he gestured over to his Smeargle and whispered "Carefully and lightly use Magma Storm to cut through the bottom of the safe." The Smeargle nodded and used the fire move to burn off the top piece of the safe. The doctor reached in and yelped when his arm brushed against some metal that was still glowing hot. In guilt, the Smeargle looked away.

The doctor blindly reached in and dug through the loose paperwork in hopes of finding something worthwhile. His hopes perked up when he came across a flat box. Without thinking, he grabbed it and put it into the pocket of his black sweatshirt that he was wearing. "C'mon! Let's get out of here!" he said loudly as he put the Smeargle back into his Pokeball. Elekid popped out of the utility closet and returned to his Pokeball promptly. The lack of an electrical connection caused the alarm system to go off, so the doctor ran out of the side door.

**The Next Morning**

"What... what in the hell?!" Professor Birch said as he came in and saw the damage. Professor Oak, Crystal, and Blue followed shortly. "Great. Of all the times for someone to break in." Blue said as they looked around. "All of the paperwork is here, but the box is missing!" Professor Oak said as Professor Birch emptied out the topless safe. "So, the new PokeDex is safe?" Crystal asked. Professor Oak nodded and pulled out the new Dex to show that he carried it on him. "That box had an external hard drive with important data and design schematics. That data is small, but it's enough that any group could make any device that used the PokeDex technology. Team Rocket creating their version of the Dex from Red's old PokeDex was bad enough. If they, or any group for that matter, can undercut current accessible technology..." Blue started to explain before Professor Oak cut them off by saying "It would be very bad. That's why we need to find out what happened and who has this data."

Blue nodded, tossed out a Pokeball, and then hopped on the back of the Charizard that appeared before him. "I'm going to talk to some of the people around here. Maybe someone was awake and noticed something." Blue said as he took off.

"I... am so sorry." Professor Birch said as he sat down on a chair. "These things happen... this would have happened regardless of where we put the data. I know you're going to beat yourself up for not keeping on you, but thankfully whomever did this didn't have to hurt you, me, or any of us to get it." Professor Oak said as Crystal looked around for anything that could help identify the perp.

"Uh... Professor Birch, do you or Sapphire take part in any contests?" Crystal asked as she picked up a piece of cloth from the ground. Professor Birch shook his head and replied "I don't, and Ruby dragged her into a contest one time and she hated it. She was lucky to not get kicked out of the arena, let alone get any sort of positive recognition." Crystal looked at the cloth and said "Let me ask Ruby about it."

**Ruby's House, Five Minutes Later**

"Yeah, this is definitely a contest ribbon." Ruby said as he put on his glasses to get a better look. After studying the tattered mess, he retrieved a book and a magazine from his shelf and opened it up. "This Ribbon was a prize in a special contest they held earlier this year at the Petalburg Medical Center as a way of letting the doctors and faculty blow off some steam after the stress of dealing with the relocated patients from the coastal hospitals during the floods last year. Despite the horrible wear and tear, I can see that this particular ribbon belongs to an Elekid. The only Elekid that participated in that contest belongs to a Dr. Tomois, from the Pediatric department." Ruby explained as he glanced between the ribbon and the magazine talking about the contest. Crystal nodded and said "Thanks! I'll call the Professors and see about talking to this doctor."

As Crystal turned to leave Ruby's room, there was a pounding at the door. Ruby hissed "I'm not here!" before diving under the bed. "Ruby, open this door! You're going to talk to him today, and I'm not taking 'No.' for an answer!" Sapphire yelled as Crystal opened the door. "Crystal...? Why are you in Ruby's room?" Sapphire asked, being surprised that there was a girl in his room. "Why are you in his house?" Crystal answered, turning the question back around on her. Sapphire scowled and replied "My family are friends with his. I'm welcome here anytime, and my dad even has a key!"

"Well, I was just here getting information about a contest. I'll be on my way! Bye!" Crystal said as she quickly left the room. Thinking that Sapphire left too, Ruby scooted out only to see the "Wild Girl"'s angry face. Ruby's face drooped in defeat.

**Dr. Tomois' Office**

Dr. Tomois walked into his office and sat down at his desk. He came in an hour early to work on the "special medical information" that he aquired last night. He opened his laptop and started to look at the files. There were two sections of the external storage device, one for the schematics of the new PokeDex and one for the Pokémon data that the ten Dexholders gathered over the years.

Before he could dig too far, his cell phone interrupted him with a melody. "Hello?" he said as he opened up the phone. "Did you get it?" the thug from before asked. "Yeah, I grabbed an external hard drive with a lot of data." the doctor explained. "That's better than I expected. The prototype would have been enough, but with the instructions to build this thing, this will please the boss. He will be in town next week and I want you to deliver the information to him personally." the thug ordered before disconnecting the call.

Up until now, the doctor thought that he would only have to deliver the storage device to the thug and be home free. But no, he has to keep it safe for a whole week. By now, it was almost certain that someone has discovered the break-in and a week is a very long time when you're avoiding discovery. He needed an insurance policy, maybe somewhere he could hide the critical data. That way, if things were to go awry he could simply ditch the drive while returning the data. He would have his cake and eat it, too. He looked at the critical data and saw that it occupied around one-hundred megabytes. Traditional storage devices would be too conspicuous, so he needed an idea that was "outside the box".

His train of thought went off the rails thanks to a knock at the door. "Come in." Dr. Tomois said as a nurse popped open the door. "Wally's mother just called and said that he had an attack last night while camping. Can you fit him in this morning?" she asked and the doctor nodded. "Okay, I'll call her back. If you need something, you'll have to call one of the other nurses as I have a meeting with the board." the nurse said as she left. Dr. Tomois shook his head at her misfortune. Who would have thought that it was unprofessional to deal with a perverted stalker by falsely announcing that his medicine was available in the pharmacy?

Looking at the screen, he got an idea. A quick check showed that wearable respirators come with around two-hundred and fifty-six megabytes of storage, and only used around a quarter of that. As much as he hated to involve Wally, he could store the PokeDex data in that space. Should there be a problem, he could retrieve the data on his next checkup which would be the next week. Either way, the data would be deleted within a week and nobody would have to know. There's no way that this could go wrong.

**One Hour Later**

"Well, this is strange." Dr. Tomois said as he looked at the logs of the connected respirator. "Your vitals for last night look fine, but your suit definitely registered an attack." he explained as Wally looked down. "Um... I kind of triggered the system on purpose to get away from a problem..." Wally admitted as the doctor scowled at the green-haired boy.

"Wally, this device is an important piece of medical equipment. It is not a free pass that you can abuse to let you run away from your problems" Dr. Tomois lectured while avoiding eye contact (after all, he going to use the respirator for that exact purpose). Wally sadly nodded. The doctor finally made eye contact and firmly said "Look, I'm working on something that could make all the difference for people like you. But I can't give it to you unless I can trust you, and you pulling a stunt like this is not giving me much hope."

Wally looked at the floor again. This was something that he didn't want to hear. After he went home, he spent the night thinking about whether he wanted have Emerald as a friend knowing that he was a Dexholder like Ruby. He concluded that he didn't want to waste his time being friends with someone who would ultimately ignore him in the long run. Dr. Tomois was probably the only person that he could consider a friend, and Wally was considering that a stretch as the doctor continued to lecture him. **"**I'm sorry... I really am." Wally said, looking up at the doctor in front of him. "You can trust me."

Knowing that Wally meant it, the doctor had no doubts about carrying out his plan. He nodded and said "Okay, I'll take your word for it. I'm going to push this minor software update to your respirator and send you on your way." After a quick transfer put the stolen data on the respirator, he smiled at the boy and said "Okay, you're good to go!" as he closed the laptop.

"So, you think that with this 'breakthrough', I will soon be able to live without this respirator?" Wally asked. "Well, you'll need the suit to deliver the medicine, but I believe that this will set you on a path to where you can live without any intervention whatsoever. Just imagine, one day you'll be sitting in your backyard free of anything of any worries, surrounded by your Pokémon and your closest friends..." the doctor said, feeling a bit sad that his life couldn't be that simple, "But I digress."

With a smile, Wally got up and said "See you next week!" before leaving.

With the boy gone, the doctor decided to see what was so important about the data before him. He opened a file and started reading the contents.

PokeDex v4.0.0 Specifications  
Last Revision: August 27 by Blue Oak

At that time, his desk phone started ringing. "Hello?" the doctor answered as he picked it up. "Yeah, are you free?" a different, less-friendly nurse barked. "Yeah... why?" the doctor asked. "There's someone who wants to talk to you. They say that it's urgent." the nurse said before slamming the receiver down. The doctor walked out of his windowless office and looked through a window in the hallway. In the parking lot, he noticed a van that had "Pallet Town Research Group" on the outside and "EARTHBG" on the license plate. This would be normal, except that he saw that van leave the Littleroot lab right before he did the heist last night. The gig is up and needed a way out and he needed it _now_.

At the reception desk, the mean nurse hung up the phone and grunted "He's in his office. Room 928 and it'll be on your left." Blue nodded and said "Thanks." before walking down the hallway with Red right behind him. They approached the door and Blue used the back of his hand to knock on it. "Dr. Tomois, we need to talk to you."

Instead of a greeting, there was a loud crash followed by the sound of masonry crumbling.

**To Be Continued...**


	7. Chapter 7: The Real Friends

**Obnoxious Fate Chapter 7: The Real Friends**

**Author's Pre-Note:** I gave this story a "T" rating due to some violence. While I try to stay mild, I some things are slightly graphic.

After bracing themselves and looking around the hallway to check for any damage, Blue kicked in the door to the doctor's office. The desk was messy, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Before them was a gaping hole that opened to the parking lot before them.

Before they could think, they saw a blue beater car speed out of the parking lot. "There he is!" Blue said as he called out his Charizard. Red nodded, grabbed a Pokeball and said "Let's try to cut him off! Aero, follow them!" as an Aerodactyl appeared before him. The two teens got on their Pokémon and chased after the car. "I'm going to call Gramps to let him know what's going on!" Blue said as he clung to the back of the fiery dragon.

Dr. Tomois raced down the street and saw the two flying Pokémon coming up behind him. "Damn! Elekid, take them down with a ThunderShock!" he cried as he opened a Pokeball. The Elekid leaned out of the open passenger window and fired a ThunderShock, which the two evaded. "Red, I'm leaving this to you! I don't want to use any fire attacks and risk blowing up the gas tank!" Blue said as the Charizard pulled back. Red nodded and said "Right. Aero, use Dragon Claw to grab the car!"

The Aerodactyl screeched as he swooped down to the car. With a crunch, he sunk his claws into the car and started flapping his wings. "Ugh!" Dr. Tomois said as he started swerving to shake off the Fossil Pokémon. The Elekid prepared to use another ThunderShock when Blue's Charizard sideswiped the little electric Pokémon causing him to fly out of the car. "ELEKID!" the doctor yelled, half tempted to slam on the brakes and beat the crap out of that Charizard and his trainer.

Red looked over his shoulder to watch the yellow Pokémon bounce and roll into the parking lot of an auto dealership. For a moment, he stopped and thought about how the doctor must feel. After all, if someone did that to Pika, he would definitely be upset.

Blue's Charizard banked off to the side as he called out his Scizor. The Scizor flew in with a Steel Wing and successfully slashed the front passenger tire. "Crap!" Dr. Tomois said as the car started moving around the road. As they entered the slums of Petalburg City, the doctor realized that he was close to home and slammed the brakes of the car.

"It's over, doctor." Blue said as Red and he leaped from their Pokémon. Dr. Tomois didn't say anything, as he didn't want to incriminate himself. He looked around for a way out, but two boys (and three Pokémon) surrounded him. The doctor grabbed a Pokeball and tossed it over their heads. The ball hit the ground and released a Mismagius. All of the doctor's Pokémon saw what happened to their ally and were out for revenge. "Use Shadow Ball!" Dr. Tomois said as the Dexholders and their Pokémon scattered to avoid the attack.

"Get back here!" Blue said as the doctor took off towards down the street. Aero stood in the way between the Mismagius and the fleeing suspect. The Fossil Pokémon clashed with the Magical Pokémon as the doctor ducked into a parking garage.

**Back at the Medical Center**

Professor Birch, Crystal, and Gold entered the wrecked office. While they contacted the authorities, they were taking their sweet time to arrive on the scene. Professor Oak talked to the Chief of Medicine who gave explicit permission for them to investigate.

As Crystal and Gold (who was weary of coming back) tore through the displaced paperwork, the Professor had the laptop open and was looking at it. "He had the hard drive connected to this computer..." he said as he pecked away at the keyboard. "He copied the entire schematics folder to a device. I have the serial number of the device that he copied it to... I'm going to do a search." the Professor said as he opened his own laptop to search for information.

"...Gold! Those are personal!" Crystal exclaimed as Gold thumbed through papers in a file that was sitting on top of the doctor's writing desk. "Wow, that Wally kid has some serious issues..." Gold said as Crystal yanked the file folder out of his hands. The Professor stroked his beard and said "The number matches a wearable respirator...". Crystal opened the file and replied "Is the serial number '6715-8403'?" The Professor turned to her and said "He put that data on Wally's respirator... Wally has a copy of the data!"

As they left the office, Gold gave Crystal a sideways look and said "So much for privacy."

**Petalburg Slum Parking Garage**

Dr. Tomois leaped over cars as Blue, his Charizard, and his Scizor chased him through the garage. "Smeargle! Shake them off!" the doctor said as he released his Smeargle. The Smeargle used Magma Storm to subdue the Scizor. The Charizard continued to chase the doctor as he ran up a ramp to the second level. Some homeless people raised their heads to look at the wild battle taking place.

After knocking out the Scizor, the Smeargle took up last in the chase to help his trainer. The doctor eventually found himself cornered next to a van. With Charizard staring him down, he realized that he had to use his last Pokémon. The doctor pulled out his last Pokeball and threw it out. A Salamence appeared before him.

Salamence stood between the doctor and the Charizard and was ready for battle. "Giga Impact!" the doctor said as the Dragon Pokémon grabbed the Charizard and slammed him into a wall. Blue was a bit surprised, but he was ready to apprehend the doctor. "You're out of options. If you give me the data and tell me who put you up to this, then you may get out of prison before the end of the decade." Blue said as he approached the doctor. "No!" Dr. Tomois said as he shoved the Viridian Gym Leader. Blue used this opportunity to grab his hands and slam him into the side of the van. "Fine. I'll talk! I'll talk." the doctor said as Blue backed off of him. "Here is the data..." the doctor said as he pulled the storage drive from his pocket and put it into Blue's hands. "Well, I have some gambling debts..." Dr. Tomois said as the van door behind him opened up. To Blue, everything was moving in slow motion. "...that dated back all the way to when I lived in Si...UGH!" the doctor said as he fell down to the ground. "CHARIZARD!" Blue yelled as the van burned rubber and raced for the exit as the door slammed shut. Blue could see a Gliscor inside the van, but his current attention was on the doctor that was bleeding from a puncture wound on his back. The Salamence immediately went to his trainer's side and let out a cry as the doctor closed his eyes for the last time.

**One Hour Later**

The police arrived and made their reports, and the coroner confirmed the death of Dr. Tomois. Salamence, Smeargle, and Mismagius huddled in a corner, not sure what to do without their trainer. Red and Blue looked on, not saying much to each other. "Are you okay?" Red asked to the older boy, who simply didn't respond.

**Wally's House, Petalburg City**

Wally sat down in his backyard. He heard sirens and saw a few police cars and an ambulance speed towards the slums, but that was an almost daily occurence. He had all of his Pokémon out and playing around, for he was in a good mood. Dr. Tomois will soon have the answers to his problems, and soon he would be on a path that would let him live life without his heavy green restraint.

Next door, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald stood outside of the Petalburg City Gym. "So, he lives in that yellow house?" Emerald said as he pointed to the house next door. Ruby nodded, knowing that he was going to face his problems once and for all.

Wally stood up and looked out at the street. There were more cop cars, and this got his attention. However, his attention became diverted by a Kirlia that leapt up from behind and hugged him. In surprise, he turned around to see one of the Pokémon that accompanied him on his journey. "Ruru? Wow... it's been a long time." Wally said, knowing what was next. He looked to see Ruby and Emerald before him, with Sapphire standing back a couple of feet ready to catch Ruby should he freak out and run off.

"I came to see how you were feeling." Emerald said. Wally looked down and admitted "Well, that's nice of you. But I faked it..." Emerald's face drooped, wondering why his new friend would lie to him like that. "It's because... I'm strange, isn't it?" Emerald said, having been discriminated because of his height. Before Wally could answer, a call on Sapphire's PokeGear interrupted them.

The call was short, and Sapphire hung up her PokeGear. "That was Papa. Do you know a Dr. Tomois?" she asked the green-haired boy. Wally nodded. Ruby then said "He broke into Professor Birch's lab last night." In denial, Wally said "It couldn't be him! I was just at his office a few hours ago!"

"Yeah, and he put some important stuff that he stole in your mask-thingie" Sapphire said. "No! I don't know what you three are trying to do, but I would recommend that you get out of my yard _now._" Wally said, almost yelling. "Listen, you can hate me for whatever reason, but right now you are in danger and we need to get you to the Professors so they can get that information!" Emerald said as Wally turned his back. Wally looked down, then undid some clasps on the respirator. He took the device off and sat it on the ground. "There. You have your information. Just return it to me when you're done." Wally said as he walked off. Sapphire got on the PokeGear to tell her father that they had the respirator.

Emerald and Ruby looked at each other, not completely sure why Wally wanted to give up an important medical device just to avoid them. "How about finishing that battle?" Emerald said as the two of them walked over to the green-haired boy who was walking away from them. Wally stopped. He wanted to fight, but not necessarily with Pokémon. "A real trainer finishes a battle, no matter what!" Emerald said as Wally turned around to face them. "I want a double battle with both of you." Wally said as Ruby became surprised that the boy that he helped catch a Pokémon wanted to challenge him. Emerald smirked and said "Let's make it interesting. If you win, we borrow the device and we never bother you again. If we win, we get one hour for us to air our grievances." Wally nodded and said "Fine."

"Papa will be here shortly." Sapphire said as she walked over to the three boys. Ruby nodded and said "I don't like battles, but I guess this I can't avoid this. Ruru, I want you in this battle!" to the Kirlia that was watching the conversation. "Sceptile! Let's finish this!" Emerald said as he called out his strongest Pokémon. Wally couldn't believe that he was up against _both_ of his former Pokémon partners. "Cacturne, Kecleon, let's do this." Wally said as his two Pokémon joined him.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Author's Notes:** One chapter left to go.

**Author's Update:** I noticed some glaring errors in this chapter and a few inconsistencies. I have fixed them. Enjoy this and the final chapter!


	8. Chapter 8: The Final Chapter

**Obnoxious Fate Chapter 8: The Final Chapter**

"Cacturne, Kecleon, let's do this." Wally said as he stared down the two boys in front of him. Sapphire sat off to the side, having no real reason to take part in this battle.

"Ruru, use Shadow Ball!" Ruby commanded. Ruru hated the idea of fighting against Wally, but a battle is a battle. She fired off the attack at Cacturne, but Kecleon jumped in front and took the attack. Since Shadow Ball was a Ghost-type attack, it wasn't very effective against the Color Swap Pokémon.

"Ruby! Watch out, Kecleon's "Color Change" ability gives him the same type as the move that was recently used against him!" Emerald said, remembering that the same technique burned him during his last full battle and that Ruru would be weak to a Ghost-type attack.

Ruby sliently cursed himself for making such an obvious mistake. "Kecleon, use Astonish!" Wally ordered, confident that Ruby wasn't going to gracefully recover from this blunder. "Sceptile! Focus Punch on Kecleon!" Emerald quickly said. The Forest Pokémon quickly thrust his fist towards Kecleon, knocking out the Pokémon with one hit before he could finish Ruru. Ruby was a bit relieved, but he wasn't about to admit it. This didn't look good for Wally. It was two against one, and both Pokémon were around the same level as Cacturne.

Wally stopped and analyzed the situation. Neither of them had a type advantage. Sceptile was a Grass-type, just like Cacturne and Ruru was a Psychic-type that was at a disadvantage to Cacturne's Dark-type. Thinking about this gave Wally an idea. "Cacturne, I have an idea." Wally said calmly. The Cacturne turned and looked at his trainer. "Use Faint Attack on Sceptile." Wally said, moving his eyes away from Cacturne's over towards Ruru. Cacturne nodded and prepared his attack. "Brace yourself, Sceptile!" Emerald said as Cacturne ran towards Sceptile. At the last-minute, the Scarecrow Pokémon leaped over Sceptile and landed his attack on Ruru. Ruby's jaw almost dropped to the ground as his _beautiful_ Pokémon fell to the ground, leaving the original one-on-one match that started the previous night.

It was at this point that Wally realized that he was almost having fun doing this. Is this what he could have if he had friends? Well, he had better get used to it as Emerald and Ruby were probably as good as gone regardless of how this battle ends. So, why not end it with dignity? "Needle Arm!" Wally ordered and the Cacturne sent a spike at the Sceptile, who dodged the attack.

"Y'know, I'm curious about you. What did you have against me? I understand why you're mad at Ruby, but I'm nothing like him!" Emerald said, wanting to express the meaning of this battle. "He's just arrogant, he doesn't see the kind of friend you are, Wally." Emerald said as Sceptile and Cacturne battled it out. Ruby, who was listening to this conversation, could only have a face that said "Dude, I'm standing RIGHT HERE."

As more Needle Arms and Focus Punches were flying around, Ruby and Sapphire could only watch in amazement as the two trainers were clearly giving their all at this point. "You think you're broken, because of your condition. Guess what? We're all broken if you think about it enough. I know how it is, and while I'm glad I met all the Dexholders during my time at the Battle Frontier, I'm even more glad to have a friend that can understand what people like us go through. You want to wager your friendship on a random battle thinking that you're going to win. While others might have given up on you, I'm _not_ going to do that!" Emerald said as he started to glow with a green aura.

"SCEPTILE! FRENZY PLANT!"

Sceptile roared as the attack spewed forth. Cacturne tried firing a Needle Arm, but it was no use. The attack hit Cacturne like a speeding cannonball and knocked him into a tree, ending the battle.

As the Pokémon went back into their Pokeballs, Professor Birch pulled up in his car. "Wally, it's an honor to finally meet you." the Professor said as he extended his hand. Wally smiled and shook his hand.

**Professor Birch's New Lab (aka Professor Birch's Living Room)**

"Okay, I copied off all the data from the respirator suit" Blue said as he unhooked the respirator from the computer. Wally was sitting in another room when Ruby walked in. "I didn't see that attack coming..." Wally said as Ruby sat down next to him. "It was one of three attacks that we learned at the Battle Frontier. My Zuzu knows a water-based version called Hydro Cannon, and Sapphire's Toro knows a fire-based version called Blast Burn." Ruby replied, still not wanting to make eye-contact.

"I'm... sorry that I never took the time to say 'Thank You.'" Ruby said sheepishly. "Are you mad because Ruru evolved? I've always wondered..." Wally replied, also avoiding eye-contact. Ruby wasted no time in saying "Of course not! One of the things I learned is that something is beautiful for what they have on the inside and not how they look on the outside. It took a lot for me to learn that, of course." Ruby got out a Pokeball and released his Milotic (Mimi) and patted her on top of her head. Ruby then got out his PokeNav and scanned Mimi's details before turning to Wally. "This device helped me throughout my contests. The PokeDex was helpful for that brief time, yes, but this PokeNav is helping me much more in my goal of living out my dream." Ruby said, almost getting teary-eyed as he was just realizing this for himself.

"I really screwed up. You know how many times I've looked over at your house and thought about dropping by? Almost every time I go to Dad's Gym. But I just... never found the time. By the time I wanted to, I was too ashamed and afraid that you would hate me..." Ruby said, looking down. "When I heard about you saving the world, and eventually going on to the Battle Frontier, I thought that you were doing big things with your life. That you didn't have time for silly little things like some random kid you met at the start of your adventure. I assumed that was what happened, and when I found out that Emerald had a PokeDex I assumed that it would happen again." Wally explained.

"It's not as glorious as it sounds. I still get up, go run errands, socialize with my friends, take classes, and take part in contests. I was a normal kid with crazy dreams when I started, and I'm really not any different..." Ruby explained. Ruby quickly checked his pockets and said "I don't even carry my PokeDex most of the time. Having one or not having one doesn't change anything"

Ruby decided to digress by saying "What I'm trying to say, is that there is no reason for us to avoid each other. I'm in the city almost every day for some reason or another. Maybe we could start hanging out more often. And I'm sure Emerald will stick around, too!" Wally looked up and asked "Really?", starting to see some good in the white-hatted boy. Ruby smiled and said "Really."

Blue popped into the room and said "You're good to go, Wally. Your parents are here to take you home."

**The Next Morning, At Wally's House**

"Wally, have a seat." Wally's father said, as he pulled out a chair. "Dr. Tomois was attacked in the parking garage outside of his apartment yesterday." his father stated, looking out the window. "Well, is he okay?" Wally asked. "Um... well, he's unfortunately passed on..." Wally's father asked.

"What are you talking about?" Wally asked. "He's dead?" Wally asked to confirm, not believing it. Wally's father sadly nodded. Wally, unable to speak, walked outside to the backyard where the recent battle took place.

As soon as he got seated beneath a tree, the tears started flowing. The mask mistakenly labelled this as an attack, yet again, and covered his face. He let the mask cover his mouth as he started sobbing. Dr. Tomois was there from the very first time he fell ill, and now he was gone.

Not even twenty-four hours ago, the doctor told him that he had that discovery and said that he would install it next week. But all of that was gone, the research was presumably dead with him. Did he feel pain? What was he thinking? What will happen to the doctor's Pokémon? All of these questions went through the crying boy's head.

He sat there for what felt like hours, just thinking even after the tears stopped. Wally barely noticed the rustling of the grass on both sides of him. He looked around him to notice that Ruby and Emerald were sitting next to him. "We just heard about your doctor. I am so sorry..." Ruby said. Emerald nodded in agreement and added "Despite whatever happened, he did a good job taking care of you."

As the three boys sat there, Wally started replaying all of his memories of how Dr. Tomois helped him. The last words that the doctor stated to him echoed through his memories:

_Just imagine, one day you'll be sitting in your backyard free of anything of any worries, surrounded by your Pokémon and your closest friends..._

Wally realized the irony of that statement as he looked around him. What was now his closest friends were with him, and he looked out at the yard where all of his Pokémon were, along with Ruru and Sceptile. He wasn't alone, and that was more important than any miraculous "discovery".

**One Week Later, Professor Oak's Lab in Kanto**

"Well, it looks like we're going to have to make the trip to Sinnoh some other time..." Professor Oak said as Blue looked through the files that we retrieved from Wally's respirator. "Uh... Gramps, there's an extra file on here..." Blue said as he opened up the file.

Software for Advanced Medicinal Delivery Mechanisms for Respirator Suits  
Last edited by: Dr. B. Tomois (September 30)

"Well, this doesn't do us any good. Send it to the Petalburg Medical Center. Maybe somebody will benefit from this research." Professor Oak said as he glanced over the notes that the doctor left.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I, never, ever, EVER expected this story to get as many views is it did. When I made my push to finish this fic, I did it fully expecting it to flop. Obviously, I left an opening to make a sequel, and that's what I intend to do. My next fic may not continue this particular storyline, but I will come back to it eventually. Thanks for the views, favorites, and reviews! You're all awesome!

**Obnoxious Fate  
Written By:** Flintoff Cypress

**Based on "Pocket Monsters Special" (aka "Pokémon Adventures")  
Written By:** Hidenori Kusaka **Illustrated By:** Satoshi Yamamoto

Dr. Tomois' Computer Interface is based on the "Pacman" packaging software developed by Judd Vinet.

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own, nor am I affiliated with Pokémon, Viz Media, or any other intellectual properties portrayed in this fan fic.


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